Tableware sorting system

ABSTRACT

Several embodiments of automatically operated dish, holloware and silverware sanitizing apparatus, and methods performed thereby for successively cleansing, sterilizing and drying dish items, silverware, and holloware items such as cups ans glassware after the same have been classified and segregated for movement through separate paths in appropriate baths and atmospheres to accomplish the sanitizing steps, followed by assembly of such items respectively into vertical stacks of dish items, containers of silverware, and trays containing closely assembly rows of inverted holloware items for storage and reuse, one of the embodiments of apparatus including automatically operable means to classify and separate a heterogeneous mixture of such items into individual rows of similar dish items classified according to type, similar holloware items classified according to size, and silverware classified according to item.

United States Patent Gay 1 1 Apr. 11, 1972 541 TABLEWARE SORTING SYSTEM 3,483,877 12/1969 ,Naslund ..134/63 x [72] Inventor 2 3 g? Fag? 269 Pleasant Primary Examiner Richard A. Schach'er- Attorney-C. Hercus Just [22] Filed: Apr. 24, 1970 211 App]. No.: 43,295 [571 ABSTRACT a Several embodiments of automaticall o erated dish, hol- Related P Dam loware and silverware sanitizing apparz tus, and methods per- [62] Division of Ser. No. 678,592, Oct. 27, 1967, Pat. No. formed thereby for successively cleansing, sterilizing and dry- 3,520,576. ing dish items, silverware, and holloware items such as cups ans glassware after the same have been classified and [52] U.S. Cl ..209/75, 209/80, 209/90, segregated for movement through separate paths in ap- 209/1117 propriate baths and atmospheres to accomplish the sanitizing 1 i B079 steps, followed by assembly of such items respectively into Field of Search 209/74,, vertical stacks of dish items, containers of silverware, and 209/1117 80; 134/63 57 D trays containing closely assembly rows of inverted holloware items for storage and reuse, one of the embodiments of ap- [561 References (med paratus including automatically operable means to classify UNITED STATES PATENTS and separate a heterogeneous mixture of such items into individual rows of similar dish items classified according to type, Froehlich imilar hcliowa 'e items classified according to ize and ilver. 3,282,419 1 Rock X ware classified according to item 3,301,397 1/1967 Stutz ....209/99 X 3,394,804 7/1968 Reichel ..209/11l.8 X 14 Claims, 40 Drawing Figures SHEET 010F18 INVENTOR lA/ILL/AM E. GAY

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[ATTORNEY TABLEWARE SORTING SYSTEM This application is a divisional application of Ser. No. 678,592 filed Oct. 27, 1967, now US. Pat. No. 3,520,726.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION For many years, so-called automated dishwashing machines have been available and numerous improvements have been made in these for the last 50 or 60 years. Such improvements primarily, however, have been of a minor nature and no outstanding or significant changes have been made during this period in the basic apparatus or machine arrangement in which a series of usually similar racks or trays, after being manually loaded either in hetrogeneous, or somewhat manually partially classified manner, with dishes and holloware, are moved through various adjacent compartments which usually comprise those arranged to pre-rinse the trays full of items, wash the same with appropriate solutions, either change the wash solution to a rinse or subsequently rinse the trays of items in a separate compartment, dry the items to varying degrees either by heat or air blasts, and then requiring manual removal of the items from the trays for stacking or otherwise.

In restaurants, hotels, institutions such as schools and hospitals, industrial and commercial cafeterias and other foodserving institutions, the personnel requirement alone for the dishwashing functions is very substantial. It is not uncommon for even a moderate sized school or hospital, for example, to require as many as six or eight attendants to administer the use of the dishwashing equipment. Because of the uncomfortable conditions normally existing in the dishwashing area of such institutions, it is difficult to maintain steady employment because, in addition to such operating conditions, the wages normally paid for such services usually are among the lowest which are paid commercial help of almost all categories. Notwithstanding this, if an adequate crew of operators are not available to satisfactorily'operate the dishwashing equipment, many unsatisfactory conditions can arise, such as a shortage of needed dishes and holloware items such as cups, and glassware, including tumblers, ice tea glasses and the like. Frequently, dishes with egg stains and the like must be sent through the washing cycle a number of times. In attempts to accelerate the obtaining of at least washed and partially dried dish and holloware items, especially during rush hours in such food-serving institutions, only partially dried items frequently are available.

Under normal conditions of operating the dishwashing facilities of food-dispensing institutions of the type referred to above, it normally is customary to conduct a scraping of food stuffs remaining upon the dishes and in the holloware, presoaking the same prior to stacking them in the trays or conveyors by which they pass through the washing and drying equipment. Such scraping and pre-soaking usually is undertaken in a careless manner. The dishes and holloware, while still wet from such pre-soaking are placed in open rail types of racks and the like and then are placed upon belt-type conveyors so that water dripping from the dish and holloware items usually accumulates upon the floor of the washroom, thereby making a further undesirable working atmosphere.

The need to employ hot water and sometimes steam in the dishwashing machine also usually raises the temperature of the washroom to uncomfortable heights, as a result of which dissatisfied employees frequently handle the dishes and glassware roughly, thus resulting in extensive breakage which materially adds to the cost of operating the institution in which such washing facilities are located.

One of the principal reasons for requiring a rather substantial number of employees in washroom facilities of the type referred to is the present extensive need to manually handle, individually, the dish items as well as all forms of holloware items so as to initially place the same in appropriate racks which then are placed upon the usual conveyor which passes successfully through all of the various compartments of the washing machine described above and then, upon emerging from the drying end of the machine, it is again necessary to individually handle each item to either stack the same or place the holloware, for example, on appropriate trays or in racks for storage and subsequent reuse.

Certain types of currently employed dishwashing machines utilize articulated belt means having a series of closely spaced elongated finger-like members, usually of a rubber or plastic nature, between which dishes of various sizes are inserted on edge, said fingers usually extending in a slanting manner with respect to the plane of the conveyor moving through the machine. Obviously, conveyors of this type require manual loading and unloading and it is essential that a full crew operate respectively at the loading and unloading ends of the machine if the same is to be operated in any way approaching intended maximum efficiency because no other means are provided for loading the conveyor or unloading the same, other than the manual employees referred to.

One additional unsatisfactory aspect of the currently used procedures such as those described comprises the fact that even if great care is exercised in washing, sterilizing and drying dishes and holloware by presently used machines in order to render them as asceptic as possible, the very fact that they are operated by hand obviously offsets all the care which has been exercised to sterilize the same, unless the hands of the operator are similarly maintained in asceptic condition, which is rarely the case. Usually, the hands of such operators invariably are wet and germs breed best in moist temperatures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the principal object of the present invention to provide several different dishwashing systems which include, to a large extent, similar operating units employed in said systems which are power-operated and require a minimum of human supervision and manual operation. The principal difference between the various embodiments comprises the degree of automation which is desired, or can be afforded by a particular institution, at the entrance end of the system where classification and separation of the various soiled items into similar categories is undertaken and depending upon whether such operation is desired to be fully automatic or of different degrees of limited manual nature.

It is another object of the invention to provide a substantially fully automated system of washing, sterilizing and drying dish items, silverware and holloware items, such embodiment requiring only a single operator whose principal function is to see that only a single layer of soiled items exists on trays thereof being delivered to the machine.

It is still another object of the invention to provide an embodiment which is very extensively automated and is especially for use in establishments and institutions employing waitresses and bus-boys wherein trays are used which contain an assortment of mixed soiled dish items, silverware and holloware are positioned for an operator to manually and quickly remove all the dish items and silverware from the trays and place them on a main feed conveyor to deliver the same to automated classifying means, while all the holloware items on the trays are manually placed quickly by the operator upon another main feed conveyor, in inverted position, for movement to automated classifying means, after which all of said items are passed automatically through washing, sterilizing and drying units, followed by compactly arranging the same according to kind and size in suitable receptacles, racks or trays therefor.

It is a further object of the invention to provide another embodiment in which, even in a dishwashing system of large capacity, only several employees are required to receive assortments of soiled dishes, holloware and silverware on trays, such as those employed in cafeterias, schools and similar institutions and in which, for example, said several employees quickly sort such assemblies of soiled dishes, holloware and silverware onto separate conveyors for the various sizes, types and kinds of items for immediate passage to the washing, 

1. Dish classifying mechanism comprising in combination, a feeding conveyor arranged to receive dish items of various diameters and shapes and support the same, power means to propel said conveyor and move dish items thereon along a path, removal means mounted slightly above said conveyor and including a series of cam surfaces positioned successively in stepped relationship relative to one side edge of said conveyor and operable to engage said dish items of various diameters adjacent one side thereof and move the same laterally relative to the axis of said conveyor toward said one side edge thereof for discharge therefrom when the center of gravity of said dish items passes beyond said one edge of said conveyor, and receiving conveyor means for said dish items respectively arranged with receiving ends adjacent said one side edge of said feeding conveyor in spaced relation to each other and respectively positioned individually to receive dish items of similar size and shape classified according to the position along said conveyor where the center of gravity of said dish items passes beyond said one side edge of said conveyor.
 2. The dish classifying mechanism according to claim 1 in which said receiving conveyor means extend laterally from said one side edge of said feeding conveyor and including pivotally supported means operable to support dish items received from said feeding conveyor and then tilt downwardly at one end away from said feeding conveyor to insure complete removal of said dish items from said feeding conveyor for transfer to said receiving conveyor means.
 3. The dish classifying mechanism according to claim 2 further including control means interconnected to said pivotally supported means and responsive to a predetermined position of the dish items respectively received by said pivotally supported means, whereby when said dish items respectively reach said predetermined position upon said pivotally supported means said control means functions to cause said pivotally supported means to tilt away from said feeding conveyor.
 4. The dish classifying mechanism according to claim 3 in which said control means comprises an electric eye unit positioned relative to said Pivotally supported means for interception of the beam of said unit by the advancing edge of a dish item, and said mechanism also including a solenoid-actuated supporting member for one edge of said pivotally supported means and operable upon activation thereof incident to the interception of the beam of said electric eye unit to effect said tilting of said one end of said pivotally supported means.
 5. The dish classifying mechanism according to claim 2 in which said pivotally supported means comprises a shelf pivotally supported at one end adjacent said side edge of said feeding conveyor and each of said transfer conveyor means being positioned at the receiving ends adjacent said shelf to receive dish items therefrom when tilted to discharge said dish items from said shelf and convey the same away therefrom.
 6. The dish classifying mechanism according to claim 5 further including dish handling means adjacent the discharge ends of said transfer conveyor means operable to receive dish items moving substantially horizontally upon said transfer conveyor means and transpose the dishes into substantially vertical position, and additional conveyor means positioned for receiving said transposed dish items and operable to move the same to treating units while in such vertical positions.
 7. The dish classifying mechanism according to claim 1 in which said cam surfaces of said removal means are successively graduated longitudinally along said feeding conveyor and are disposed at progressively lesser distances from said one side edge of said feeding conveyor, said cam surfaces also having longitudinally extending sections between said cam surfaces which are substantially parallel to said feeding conveyor.
 8. The dish classifying mechanism according to claim 1 further including shunting means adjacent said feeding conveyor and operable to engage the opposite sides of dish items from those engaged by said cam surfaces, such shunting means being yieldable and operable to insure movement of said dish items against said cam surfaces to effect classification of such dish items by said cam surfaces.
 9. Silverware handling and classifying means for use with a dishwashing system comprising in combination, feeding conveyor means operable to receive silverware items having different shapes in spaced relationship to each other, means to actuate said feeding conveyor means to move said silverware items along a predetermined path, and silverware classifying means comprising different shape-detecting means positioned along said path and operable respectively to remove silverware items having said different shapes from said conveyor means and including control means operable in response to the shape of said silverware items to actuate said classifying means to effect such removal of silverware items from said feeding conveyor means and thereby classify the same into silverware items of the same kind and size.
 10. The silverware handling and classifying means according to claim 9 in which said control means for said classifying means are responsive to the silhouettes of said silverware items.
 11. The silverware handling and classifying means according to claim 10 in which said classifying means comprises classifying conveyor means positioned to engage said silverware items intermediately of the opposite ends thereof and support the same substantially in vertical position for movement past said control means for said classifying means.
 12. The silverware handling and classifying means according to claim 11 further including discharge means extending downwardly from said classifying conveyor means and operable respectively to receive silverware items of the same kind and size for movement by gravity, and said mechanism also including recepticle means adjacent said discharge means to receive the classified silverware items therefrom.
 13. The silverware handling and classifying means according to claim 11 in which said classifying conveying means is segmented and includes longituDinally spaced portions respectively movable from supporting positions for said silverware items to a release position in response to actuation thereof by said control means and thereby release conveyed silverware items for discharge from said classifying conveyor means.
 14. The silverware handling and classifying means according to claim 9 in which said feeding conveyor comprises means to support said silverware items substantially parallel to each other for movement along said path, one end of said feeding conveyor comprising a discharge end, and silverware transposing means positioned adjacent said discharge end of said feeding conveyor and operable to receive silverware items sequentially therefrom and transpose said silverware items substantially into vertical position, and said classifying means comprising conveyor means operable to receive said vertically disposed silverware items from said position converting means. 